The population of Chicago’s Auburn Gresham neighborhood was 99.8% white in 1960. The area, often referred to simply as Gresham, underwent a rapid transition and 30 years later it was 98.7% Black despite serious community efforts to achieve stable, peaceful integration.
Auburn Gresham has had a reputation as one of the South Side’s more violent, crime-ridden neighborhoods. I recently learned of The Havens, a development of 99 new single-family homes in the area that began more than half a dozen years ago with homes once priced into the $620s – an almost unimaginable number for this part of Chicago.
What triggered my interest was an MLS listing for a recently-completed home at 8527 S Eggleston St in The Havens, priced in the $220s. The 2,600 square foot 4-bedroom, 3 ½ bath home is an unfortunately named Tuskegee model.
A 4-bedroom home in The Havens recently sold in the low $350s, a surprising number. Nine vacant lots are also for sale there, priced at $19,000 each.
Join me for a look at this well-maintained upper-middle class community. It’s just west of the thriving Chatham Ridge Shopping Center on 87th St off the Dan Ryan Expressway.